Wake Forest Holds Final Preseason Scrimmage
8/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 26, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe put the Demon Deacons through their final preseason scrimmage on Thursday afternoon at BB&T Field. The scrimmage consisted of just 45 plays and lasted a little over an hour. Wake Forest opens the season at home against Presbyterian next Thursday night.
Redshirt sophomore Ted Stachitas continued to quarterback the first team offense and he led the unit to a touchdown on its first possession. Stachitas was efficient on the four-play scoring drive as he completed an 8-yard pass to Terence Davis, kept the ball for 11 yards and a first down before hitting Josh Adams on a 45-yard completion down to the 1. Adams got the call on the next play and bulled over for the touchdown.
Freshman Tanner Price quarterbacked the second unit and led Wake to the 1 on his first drive before handing off to Brandon Pendergrass for the final yard and a touchdown.
Stachitas' second possession covered seven plays and ended when he ran the final four yards for the score. The touchdown was set up by a 40-yard pass to Jordan Williams.
Freshman cornerback Kevin Johnson scored a touchdown for the defense, intercepting a Skylar Jones pass and returning it 48 yards for the score.
Wake Forest's final touchdown came under the direction of Price. The lefthander carried twice for 32 yards on the drive and hit Michael Campanaro on a 16-yard gain to put the ball at the 10. Adams carried it three straight times, scoring on a 1-yard run.
Pendergrass led the Deacons in rushing with 35 yards on seven carries. Price had 32 yards on two carries while Josh Adams had five rushing attempts for 18 yards. Stachitas completed all four of his pass attempts for an even 100 yards. Price was three-for-four for 41 yards.
Davis was the only receiver with multiple receptions, making a pair of catches for 15 yards. Adams' 45-yard reception was the longest of the afternoon.
Following the scrimmage, Grobe was asked if he expected Stachitas to start next week's opener against Presbyterian.
"He's earned the right," said Grobe. "He's really done some good things. He runs it well, he throws it well. He just needs game experience, none of our guys have game experience right now. I like what Ted did today and I liked what Tanner did today. There's a couple other guys we like as well but I think Ted and Tanner are our two guys."
As the Deacons head into the final week of preparations for the season opener, Grobe knows what areas still need improvement.
"I don't think there's any question we still need to work mentally on our assignments," said Grobe. "We had a couple of silly penalties today that we have to eliminate. We took care of the ball today, at least the one's and two's did.
"Our guys know where we are right now," continued Grobe. "We're a young football team, we lost the winningest quarterback in the history of the school. I understand why people picked us down. But I think we have a chance to be a pretty good football team."
The Deacons return to the practice field Friday afternoon at 4:30.
